Category: How To and Tips
Writing and Receiving Reviews
Indie authors have a lot to learn about how to make their book visible to the wide world of readers and it takes time, lots of research, and some money. A first step was to post my book on Goodreads, hoping for reviews there. To encourage followers I was urged to review a few books myself. […]
Driving Through the Hills of Birmingham
When it was first suggested to me that there might be a connection between my work as an artist and my work as a writer, I was taken aback. I’d kept the two activities entirely separate, throwing myself entirely into either one or the other at any given time. Until I realised that I ponder […]
Silence Did Not Stop Me
Silence Did Not Stop Me Terry Sue Harms After writing a novel, I thought writing a memoir was going to be less challenging. Not easy, but I couldn’t imagine how a story that I already knew could possibly be more difficult to tell than the one I had made up. After all, I understood the […]
Writing Meaningfully about Trauma
Courtney Ramm is a successful professional dancer and choreographer whose upcoming memoir, “Eris Rising” (Acorn Publishing, Fall 2020) is a deeply personal tell-all about falling for a highly manipulative and dangerous man. Over the course of their relationship, Marcus leads Courtney down a long, dark rabbit hole, gaslighting her until she uproots her promising career […]
Launching New Ventures In A Pandemic
Launching new ventures in a pandemic—or how I found a way to expand my world when everything else was contracting. 2020 has certainly been a year of changes. We all saw our worlds turn inward and shrink down to their merest essence as we have huddled in our homes and stayed away from friends and […]
Helpful Nudges Along the Path to Publication
My debut novel, The Girl from the Hermitage, was finally launched in September. Like most debut authors, the journey to publication has been long and winding, fraught with obstacles and disappointment. But along with the challenges, I have had many helpful nudges on the path to publication. It started with a very encouraging teacher, Donald […]
Whose Rules are They Anyway? Six Ways Improv and Writing Overlap
I am a high school English teacher and young adult author, but my former professional life is that of an actor/improviser. So I’ve been marching around for years saying, “You know, improv and creative writing really overlap. Like, the rules for improv all work for writing, too.” (In case you aren’t clear what improv is, […]
Being a Writer in 2020: Whitney Dineen
What in the sweet Jesus hell is going on with this year? I have never simultaneously felt like I was doing so much and so little at the same time. There have been days where the thought of getting out of bed was almost more than I could bear, and weeks where I didn’t even […]
A New Perspective On Perspective
Writing a novel is a humbling experience. The idea begins as a tiny seed in the back corner of a writer’s mind. The images dance across the imagination as if a movie is unfolding right before the writer’s eyes. The characters become real people, friends or foes, whose dialogue both taunt and delight. And then, the writer sits at their desk and begins to write.
Finding Emotional Connection
by Leslie Budewitz We read for many reasons: To peek into a time or place that fascinates us. To catch up with old friends, or watch in disbelief as they go wild. To avoid dirty looks when we show up at book club with wine but without having read the book. To be entertained. But […]
Recent Comments